Lapworth
A Warwickshire Village
The Local History Group
The Lapworth Local History Group was founded in 1965. The aim of the group is ‘to foster and encourage learning about history with a focus on local issues, Warwickshire and the Midlands of England’. The History Group is affiliated to the Warwickshire Local History Society.
June Visit We finished our summer 2011 programme in style being greeted by Lord Saye and Sele on the lawn at Broughton Castle, Oxfordshire prior to a guided tour of the family residence. A wonderful place to visit, described on the website as ‘about the most beautiful castle in all England’ it has been the setting for many films including ‘The Madness of King George’ and ‘Shakespeare in Love’.
The picture shows the entrance to the moated residence.
Memories of Hugh Birkett? Peter Hill of the History society is planning to write a paper about Hugh Birkett, craftsman, furniture designer and former resident of Lapworth.
Peter would be really interested in tracking down memories people might have of him. Here is the article about it that Peter wrote for the Parish Magazine.
Have you thought of joining the group? Joining is easy: come along to one of our meetings to join or contact our secretary, Linda Cousins (linda.cousins@virgin.net) on 01564 782124, or contact our outings secretary, Diana Smith on 01564 782595. Annual membership costs £ 7.50 with new members and visitors always welcome to our meetings. Tea/coffee is available at most meetings along with an enjoyable annual buffet supper (£7.50) at our October meeting. Further details about the Lapworth Local History Group can be obtained from the above.
Details of the history group programme are here. Forthcoming events include the annual buffet supper and talks which will include Compton Verney House, Music in Shakespeare and ‘One Mile of History’ – Henley in Arden High Street, Warwickshire. Visits will include Shugborough Hall and Laycock in Wiltshire.
The History of Lapworth. If you would like to discover a more about the history of Lapworth, you can read the first part of Lapworth, The History of a Warwickshire village here.
Our President, Joy Woodall, has researched the village and published an excellent book: Portrait of Lapworth which records the history, typography and people along with events and places in the area mainly relating to the 18th and 19th centuries
Research Papers. A number of papers have been written and published in the Kingswood Histories series which include: The Inscribed Stone Mystery and the Churchyard Cottages (1892), The Lapworth Ice Tragedy (1907), and Life at Lapworth School (1922-23).
Church Inscriptions – "Inscriptions within the Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Lapworth Warwickshire" records all the inscriptions found within the parish church, (14C – 21C), often with extra background information for each inscription. There is a chapter on ‘Lost Inscriptions’, those originally seen in the church and for which some record still exists. A copy of this research paper has been archived at the Warwick County Record Office.
The Lapworth Missal, an occasional paper of great interest, written by our president, Joy Woodall, traces the known history of a medieval missal dated to 1398 which was given to Lapworth Church in the 1400s. It is now in the guardianship of Corpus Christi College Oxford.
Lapworth History 2009-2010 is the latest occasional paper, being a collection of articles written during 2009 and 2010 by Graham Kennell and Peter Hill on aspects of Lapworth history.
Most of these are available through the Lapworth Local History Group
